What Does Ballmer Really Think About Yahoo? (And Apple, Sun and IBM)

Say, Steve Ballmer, would you like to take another run at buying Yahoo?

Associated Press

Steve Ballmer

Thursday’s answer from the Microsoft chief executive, which was closely parsed by our colleagues at Deal Journal, was the usual vague flirtation: “There are a lot of things that are fairly compelling economically” about putting together Microsoft and Yahoo’s search operations.

Mr. Ballmer was his typically wacky and freewheeling self at the McGraw-Hill media summit Thursday. He directed some tough talk at Apple, IBM and even himself.

He admitted that doesn’t own any Apple products, nor do his wife or children. (Perhaps a reference to the recent Vogue interview in which Melinda Gates said she was desperate for an iPhone, but Bill wouldn’t allow it.) And Mr. Ballmer doesn’t think much about the appeal of Apple’s typically premium-priced products during the recession.

“Paying $500 more to get a logo on it, I think that’s a more challenging proposition for the average consumer,” he told interviewer Stephen Adler, the editor-in-chief of BusinessWeek.

On search, Mr. Ballmer said Microsoft — whose 10% market-share is light years behind Google — still has “a lot of work to do” to improve its offerings. He said combining Microsoft and Yahoo search can help because the ramped-up volume of data generates better search results and together the two have more advertiser connections.

He was more skeptical about IBM’s discussions to acquire Sun Microsystems. “I don’t exactly get it, but it doesn’t exactly surprise me either,” he said. (IBM and Sun are both competitors and partners of Microsoft, of course.)

Mr. Ballmer suggested Sun has lots of parts IBM wouldn’t want, and he hinted that digesting the merger would distract the two tech giants for a year or so. “I relish that year,” Mr. Ballmer said.

On his reputation for not being willing to relinquish control, Mr. Ballmer said, “I would characterize myself as hands-on,” but “not as much of a micromanager as (in) years’ past,” saying Microsoft’s business is too sprawling to pick over everything. (Mr. Ballmer said he even leaves his lieutenants to green-light smaller acquisitions.)

Mr. Gates and Mr. Ballmer didn’t always see eye-to-eye at Microsoft, and Mr. Ballmer gave a careful answer Thursday about whether he liked his job better since the well-known founder stepped away last summer to concentrate on philanthropy.

“We miss Bill,” he said, then added: “Everyone relishes the opportunity to grow, and take on more responsibility.”